How to Use the Napping House to Promote Language and Early Literacy Skills

If you are a parent to a young child, a speech language pathologist, or an educator, The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood is the perfect addition to your library.

Amazon affiliate links have been included.

In this post, I’ll explain how I use The Napping House to promote various language and early literacy skills. Included, you’ll see pictures of a resource I created to use with my clients and daughter. This delightful book companion is available by clicking HERE.

This book companion includes multiple activities to stimulate language and early literacy skills.

How to use a picture walk to stimulate curiosity and interest by talking about the book and asking questions before reading it.

How to make connections to what is read to the child’s personal experiences.

How to use synonyms and antonyms to build vocabulary.

How to encourage storytelling.

Going on a Picture Walk

I usually perform a picture walk with my clients before reading most picture books.

I ask several questions BEFORE reading the book as a way to stimulate interest and curiosity.

You can even ask your child to draw what he or she thinks the story may be about.

Making Connections

When young children read new books it is essential that we, adults, help them to activate their prior knowledge about the content or subject matter. This is especially important as they age and read more challenging narratives or non-fiction texts (particularly when they make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn). Most young children do not intuitively make connections by themselves. To learn more about making connections, please click this link to read my post and see my video.

This worksheet can assist your child in purposefully making connections to what he or she is reading to what he or she knows or what he or she has previously read about or experienced (this is prior knowledge).

Vocabulary Development

An excellent way to grow your child’s vocabulary is to introduce categories of synonyms and antonyms. Introducing your child to synonyms and antonyms will help him or her to communicate with more clarity and precision. Knowing exactly what you want to say is very empowering.

The Napping House has many synonyms for the verb sleep and the antonym for awake in the form of the adjective wakeful. They are repeated in lyrical phrases throughout the book, helping your child to remember and recite this new vocabulary.

These vocabulary-sorting mats are a fun way to further familiarize your child with these new vocabulary words. Have have your child sort the synonyms for sleep, awake, and cozy.

All my clients and my daughter LOVED putting together my vocabulary puzzles too! These puzzles encourage children to practice reciting the lyrical phrases while putting them together. FYI – The black and white images are more challenging to match up.

My book companion contains two different hands-on activities to advance storytelling skills.

Stacking Activities in color and in black and white

Storytelling Map – A story map is a visual support to help children learn important aspects in a story

If you read The Napping House or try any of my activities, please let me know what you think!

Kimberly Scanlon, M.A. CCC-SLP is a speech language pathologist, an author and a mother. As the owner of Scanlon Speech Therapy, LLC, a unique boutique practice in Bergen County, Kimberly embraces individuality and treats the whole person. Her goal is to spread compassion, hope, and some speech, language and literacy tips one moment, one person at a time. Her first book, My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development and her second book, Learning to Read is a Ball are available for purchase online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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Kimberly O. Scanlon MA, CCC-SLP

Founder and Director, Kimberly Scanlon is a language and literacy development expert and author of My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development, and the interactive picture book, Learning to Read is a Ball.